TY - JOUR A1 - Hossner, Ernst-Joachim A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix T1 - Paralysis by analysis and nodal-point motor control Y1 - 2006 UR - http://journals.humankinetics.com/jsep-contents SN - 0895-2779 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix A1 - Sternad, D T1 - Not a joke : no choking under pressure in a ball bouncing task Y1 - 2006 SN - 0895-2779 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix A1 - Lieske, Jascha A1 - Rübner, Anne T1 - Interaction between preferences for and instructions for a focus of attention in billiards N2 - The present study evaluated the interaction between preference for a focus of attention and instructions for focusing attention. N = 42 experienced billiard players had to shoot a billiard ball into a target area and received a focus instruction either corresponding or opposite to their preferred focus of attention. Two-dimensional error scores of accuracy and consistency were obtained. Accuracy of performance increased between the first test phase without instructions and the second test phase with focus instructions, independent of preference or instruction. However, participants with a preference for an external focus receiving an internal focus instruction showed less consistent performance. Y1 - 2004 ER - TY - THES A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix T1 - Choking under pressure : attention and motor control in performance situations T1 - Versagen unter Druck : Aufmerksamkeit und Bewegungskontrolle in Leistungssituationen N2 - When top sports performers fail or “choke” under pressure, everyone asks: why? Research has identified a number of conditions (e.g. an audience) that elicit choking and that moderate (e.g. trait-anxiety) pressure – performance relation. Furthermore, mediating processes have been investigated. For example, explicit monitoring theories link performance failure under psychological stress to an increase in attention paid to a skill and its step-by-step execution (Beilock & Carr, 2001). Many studies have provided support for these ideas. However, so far only overt performance measures have been investigated which do not allow more thorough analyses of processes or performance strategies. But also a theoretical framework has been missing, that could (a) explain the effects of explicit monitoring on skill execution and that (b) makes predictions as to what is being monitored during execution. Consequently in this study, the nodalpoint hypothesis of motor control (Hossner & Ehrlenspiel, 2006) was taken to predict movement changes on three levels of analysis at certain “nodalpoints” within the movement sequence. Performance in two different laboratory tasks was assessed with respect to overt performance (the observable result, for example accuracy in the target), covert performance (description of movement execution, for example the acceleration of body segements) and task exploitation (the utilization of task properties such as covariation). A fake competition (see Beilock & Carr, 2002) was used to invoke pressure. In study 1 a ball bouncing task in a virtual-reality set-up was chosen. Previous studies (de Rugy, Wei, Müller, & Sternad, 2003) have shown that learners are usually able to “passively” exploit the dynamical stability of the system. According to explicit monitoring theories, choking should be expected either if the task itself evokes an “active control” (Experiment 1) or if learners are provided with explicit instructions (Experiment 2). In both experiments, participants first went through a practice phase on day 1. On day 2, following the Baseline Test participants were divided into a High-Stress or No-Stress Group for the final Performance Test. The High-Stress Group entered a fake competition. Overt performance was measured by the Absolute Error (AE) of ball amplitudes from target height; covert performance was measured by Period Modulation between successive hits and task exploitation was measured by Acceleration (AC) at ball-racket impact and Covariation (COV) of impact parameters. To evoke active control in Exp. 1 (N=20), perturbations to the ball flight were introduced. In Exp. 2 (N=39) half of the participants received explicit skill-focused instructions during learning. For overt performance, results generally show an interaction between Stress Group and Test, with better performance (i. e. lower AE) for the High-Stress group in the final Performance Test. This effect is also independent of the Instructions that participants had received during learning (Exp. 2). Similar effects were found for COV but not for AC. In study 2 a visuomotor tracking task in which participants had to pursuit a target cross that was moving on an invisible curve. This curve consisted of 3 segments of 6 turning points sequentially ordered around the x-axis. Participants learned two short movement sequences which were then concatenated to form a single sequence. It was expected that under pressure, this sequence should “fall apart” at the point of concatenation. Overt Performance was assessed by the Root Mean Square Error between target and pursuit cross as well as the Absolute Error at the turning points, covert performance was measured by the Latency from target to pursuit turning and task exploitation was measured by the temporal covariation between successive intervals between turning points. Experiment 3 (intraindividual variation) as well as Experiment 4 (interindividual variation) show performance enhancement in the pressure situation on the overt level with matching results on covert and task exploitation level. Thus, contrary to previous studies, no choking under pressure was found in any of the experiments. This may be interpreted as a failure in the experimental manipulation. But certainly also important characteristics of the task are highlighted. Choking should occur in tasks where performers do not have the time to use action or thought control strategies, that are more relevant to their “self” and that are discrete in nature. N2 - Wenn Top-Athleten im Wettkampf versagen fragt sich jeder: warum? Die Forschung hat dazu einerseits Bedingungen identifiziert (z.B. die Anwesenheit von Publikum), die „Versagen“ auslösen und die Beziehung Druck- Leistung moderieren. Zudem wurden vermittelnde Prozesse gefunden wie zum Beispiel die bewusste Aufmerksamkeitsfokussierung („explicit monitoring“) auf die Ausführung der Bewegung (Beilock & Carr, 2001). Obwohl es gerade für diese Vorstellungen einige Befunde gibt, wurde bislang fast ausschließlich das Bewegungsresultat („overt performance“) untersucht, nicht aber Variablen, die Aussagen über die Bewegungsausführung zulassen. Zudem fehlt ein theoretischer Rahmen, der Vorhersagen zulässt darüber, (a) welche Veränderungen der Bewegungsausführung unter Druck zu erwarten sind und (b) welchen Stellen der Bewegung bewusst fokussiert werden. Darum wurde für diese Studie die „Knotenpunkthypothese motorischer Kontrolle“ (Hossner & Ehrlenspiel, 2006) herangezogen um auf drei Analyse-Ebenen zu ermöglichen Vorhersagen an Knotenpunkten der Bewegung zu treffen. Leistung wurde entsprechend auf einer overt-Ebene (beobachtbare Bewegungsresultat, z.B. Treffgenauigkeit), einer covert-Ebene (z.B. raum-zeitliche Verlaufe von Gelenkwinkeln) und einer task-exploitation-Ebene (z.B. die Covariation von Ausführungsparametern) untersucht. Für die Manipulation einer „Druck-Bedingung“ wurde ein Pseudowettkampf (nach Beilock & Carr, 2002) verwendet. Für die Experimente 1 und 2 wurde eine semi-virtueller „ball bouncing“-Aufgabe verwendet, für die sich gezeigt hat (de Rugy, Wei, Müller, & Sternad, 2003), dass Lernende tatsächlich in der Lage sind, die dynamische Stabilität der Aufgabe zunehmend auszunutzen. Angenommen wurde, dass Versagen unter Druck erscheinen sollte, wenn die Aufgabe entweder eine „aktive Kontrolle“ verlangt (Experiment 1) oder aber die Lernenden explizite Instruktionen während der Lernphase erhalten. Allerdings zeigen die Ergebnisse beider Experimente nur Leistungsverbesserungen unter Druck-Bedingungen auf overt-Ebene, die mit entsprechenden Verbesserungen auf covefrt- und task-exploitation-Ebene einhergehen. Für die Experimente 3 und 4 wurde eine visuomotorische Tracking-Aufgabe verwendet in der die Probanden zunächst zwei kleinere Bewegungssequenzen erlernten, bevor diese zu einer großen Sequenz verbunden wurde. Unter Druck sollte diese Gesamtsequenz „auseinander brechen“. Jedoch zeigt sich auch hier in beiden Experimenten eine Resultatsverbesserung unter Druck (gegenüber Kontrollbedingungen bzw. –gruppen) auf overt wie auf covert-Ebene. Im Gegensatz zu vielen vorangehenden Studien zeigte sich kein „Choking under Pressure“. Sicherlich stellt sich zunächst die Frage nach der Validität der Druckmanipulation, die aber zumindest für die beiden ersten Experimente gesichert scheint. Relevanter scheint demnach eine Inspektion der Aufgabe. Hier dürfte es sein, dass diskrete Aufgaben, die einen Einsatz von Handlungskontroll-Strategien nicht erlauben und die von größerer „Selbst“-Relevanz sind, eher unter Druck beeinträchtigt werden. KW - Aufmerksamkeit KW - Bewegungssteuerung KW - Leistungsdruck KW - Bewegungsanalyse KW - Knotenpunkte KW - attention KW - motor control KW - pressure KW - movement analysis KW - nodalpoints Y1 - 2006 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-12377 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Strahler, Katharina A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix A1 - Heene, Moritz A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Competitive anxiety and cortisol awakening response in the week leading up to a competition Y1 - 2010 SN - 1469-0292 ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Wenhold, Franziska A1 - Meier, Caroline A1 - Beckmann, Jürgen A1 - Elbe, Anne-Marie A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix T1 - Sportpsychologische Eingangsdiagnostik - sportbezogene Motivation Y1 - 2008 SN - 978-3-86884-480-1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wenhold, Franziska A1 - Beckmann, Jürgen A1 - Elbe, Anne-Marie A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix T1 - Testing achievement motivation and volition in sport Y1 - 2008 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix A1 - Beckmann, Jürgen A1 - Strahler, Katharina T1 - Competitive anxiety : review and perspectives with a neuroendocrine slant Y1 - 2008 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beckmann, Jürgen A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix A1 - Schönfelder, Martin A1 - Strahler, Katharina A1 - Weil, Jakob T1 - Neuroendokrine Facetten der Wettkampfangst : Identifikation objektiver Kriterien erfolgreicher sportpsychologischer Interventionen Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www.bisp.de/nn_113306/DE/Produkte/Publikationen/BISp-Jahrbuch.html ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ziegler, Matthias A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Latent state-trait theory : an application in sport psychology N2 - Objective: Questionnaires are often applied in sports psychology to measure a person's trait or state. However, the extent to which the questionnaire captures differences because of trait or state influences is often unclear. The latent state-trait (LST) theory offers the opportunity to separate both variance sources. This separation allows estimating specific reliability coefficients. Design: The present paper gives a theoretical introduction to LST and its basic ideas. Using a real data set with N = 156 athletes we exemplify the steps necessary to derive the LST coefficients. All athletes filled out a comprehensive inventory assessing competitive anxiety on two occasions. Method: The data are analysed with structural equation models based on LST principles. Results: The results confirm the questionnaire's trait saturation. Conclusion: Finally, results are discussed in light of practical and theoretical implications. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14690292 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2008.12.004 SN - 1469-0292 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hossner, Ernst-Joachim A1 - Hegele, Matthias C. A1 - Erlacher, Daniel A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix T1 - Dimensions of distality : Spatial, temporal, and perceptual features of attentional control Y1 - 2006 UR - http://journals.humankinetics.com/jsep-contents SN - 0895-2779 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Strahler, Katharina A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix A1 - Heene, Moritz A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Competitive anxiety and cortisol awakening response in the week leading up to a competition N2 - Objectives: This study investigated the psychological as well as neuroendocrine stress response across one week before an important sport competition, introducing the cortisol awakening response (CAR) to sport psychological research. Methods: On three days in the week before the German Nationals, martial artists (N = 17) reported their competitive state anxiety and collected five samples of salivary cortisol during the first hour after awakening. Results: Hierarchic-linear models and multiple regressions were conducted. Despite a significant rise in "somatic anxiety" (p < .05), the increment of CAR across the week remained non-significant. A moderator function of competitive anxiety on the released amount of cortisol in the morning was not found significant. Results did not show any significant regression of changes in the neuroendocrine response on changes in state anxiety. Conclusion: Non- significant increments of CAR with a closer proximity to the competition may be interpreted as a possible habituation of basal hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal activity. Moreover, athletes appear to have a lower CAR than found in norm studies, which points to further investigation of interindividual and situational effects on the temporal pattern of the neuroendocrine response to sport competitions. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14690292 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2009.10.003 SN - 1469-0292 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehrlenspiel, Felix A1 - Graf, Karla A1 - Kühn, Christian A1 - Brand, Ralf T1 - Stability and variability of competitive anxiety JF - Zeitschrift für Sportpsychologie N2 - Spielberger's (1972) Trait-State-Anxiety theory distinguishes between anxiety as a trait (A-trait) - involving a stable characteristic of a person to react with anxiety in response to varying situations and anxiety as a state (A-state), a situation-dependent reaction to a stimulus perceived as threatening. Using a general instead of a sport-specific measure, a previous study provided only mixed support for core predictions of the theory as related to sports (Schwenkmezger, 1985). With the aid of enhanced instruments and statistical methods, we tested these predictions again. The multidimensional and competition-specific assessment of anxiety results in support for the assumption of a stable A-trait and a fluctuating A-state, whereby the A-trait not only predicts the intensity of A-states but also the A-state variability. The repeated assessment of A-states prior to two competitions reveals a rather low relative consistency (i.e., interindividual differences across measurements were only moderately stable). Especially this latter finding suggests that, in order to gain a full understanding of the experience of competitive anxiety in athletes, sport psychologists should not only assess competitive A-traits, but also repeatedly measure competitive A-states. KW - competitive state anxiety KW - competitive trait anxiety KW - Trait-State Interaction Model Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1026/1612-5010/a000034 SN - 1612-5010 VL - 18 IS - 1 SP - 31 EP - 43 PB - Hogrefe CY - Göttingen ER -